Numerical solutions of the N-body problem

Devoted to the study of numerical methods for solving the general N-body problem and related problems, this volume starts with an overview of the conventional numerical methods for solving the initial value problem. The major part of the book contains original work and features a presentation of special numerical methods conserving the constants of motion in the general N-body problem and methods conserving the Jacobi constant in the problem of motion of N bodies in a rotating frame, as well as an analysis of the applications of both (conventional and special) kinds of methods for solving these problems. For all the methods considered, the author presents algorithms which are easily programmable in any computer language. Moreover, the author compares various methods and presents adequate numerical results. The appendix contains PL/I procedures for all the special methods conserving the constants of motion. 91 refs.; 35 figs.; 41 tabs